Awards Day

I have a lot of embarrassing moments in life. I managed to accumulate them week by week. But I think if I were to identify my top five, this would be at least in the top five, maybe at the top of the list. It happened at a wedding. It was not a wedding that I was officiating at. I was 16 or 17 years old and this church met across the road. And I was invited to be an usher at a wedding. I don't even remember whose wedding it was now because what I'm going to tell you about has eclipsed everything else in my mind about that day. So I don't even remember whose wedding it was, but it was a big one. The church was packed. And I was just honored to be invited and asked to be a groomsman and usher. And I was supposed to be the usher that lit the candles that day. And I was going to be the only one to light the candles. It was really an honor. I was so grateful. My mother was going to sing at the wedding and she was on the platform. The wedding party had not come in yet. It's right before the ceremony. And I'm walking up the aisle. Churchful of people to light the candles. About halfway up the aisle, I noticed something wasn't quite right. The flame on the end of the candle stick seemed to be getting smaller. Was I seeing right? Was it really diminishing? Was I going to make it to the front? And I prayed, Lord, don't let this light go out. You know, sometimes God says no when we answer prayers. And it's hard to understand why, isn't it? Sometimes. And by the time I made the last step to the front, all with front of the church, the flame was out. Here I am with the candle stick in my hand to light the candles. And there's no flame. What am I going to do? Everybody's looking. My mother is sitting on the platform. I looked up at her and I whispered, Mom, do you have any matches? She didn't have any matches in her pocket book. I mean, I was just, you know, hoping somehow God miraculously had dropped some matches in there and she would open up. Yeah, here they are. That was a note, too. So I turned around, walked back to the back with everybody watching. And dear Miss Audrey, Audrey Jones, who was directing the wedding, lit the candle stick again and said, John, I think maybe the little lever that holds that candle stick in place has malfunctioned. And it's every time you take a step, it's dropping the wick down into the candle stick. So if you're just holding it in place, I think you'll be okay and sure enough, that was the solution. But what an embarrassment. Until this day, when I've told you the story, I've hoped anybody that was at that wedding when I think that was all scripted. It was supposed to go that way, but it certainly was not. What an embarrassing time. I'm not sure that I have seen my greatest embarrassment yet. I think it may happen in the future. It may happen when I stand before Jesus. We've been talking about for the last week. The world will come to an end. The world as we know it will end. This is a series on prophecy, on prophetic truths. This is 2012 and there are many who believe this is the year the world will come to an end. According to some understandings of ancient Mayan prophecies and other prophecies and prognosticators who have foretold when the world will come to an end. 2012 is supposed to be the year. There's even been a movie made about it. We saw a clip from that last week. Is this the year? I don't know, but I do know that the Bible says the world will come to an end. The world as we know it will come to an end. There will be a new heaven and a new earth someday. The Bible also tells us the events that will take place that will usher in that new world and that will lead to the end of the world as we know it. The Bible alone gives us clear, firm, reliable information about how that will happen. In this series of messages we're looking at the sequence of events described in the Bible that will lead up to the end of the world as we know it. Last week we looked at what's called the rapture. I want to show you once again this prophetic chart, this timetable of prophetic events. It is pre-millennial indicating that Jesus will come back before the thousand year rule of Christ, before His millennial kingdom and set it up. It is a pre-tribulational understanding of these events which means that Jesus will come to get us before the tribulation. We will not be going through that as His church and it is a prophetic timetable. Now here's the way it looks. We are right here, at least we should be. Yeah, we are. We're right there. Church Age, the first event on God's prophetic timetable is the rapture. When Jesus comes not all the way to the earth, when He comes and we meet Him in the air. We saw that last week that when Jesus returns that those who have died in Christ in this church age who know the Lord, those who are dead will be raised. Their bodies will be raised, be changed into glorified bodies to be like Christ and those of us who are still alive and remain will be caught up, caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air in social we ever be with the Lord. So that's the first event. That could happen at any time. The next event on this timetable for us as believers is right here. The judgment of believers works. We're going to call it the judgment seat of Christ. Paul is going to call it that in one of his letters. The judgment seat of Christ. I want to make clear today what that judgment is all about. It is a judgment in heaven for all believers of this church age. Since the day of pinnacoste when the church began up until the time Jesus returns all believers in the church age will stand before Christ at the judgment seat of Christ. Now a couple people asked me last week, what about Old Testament believers? Are they not going to be in heaven? Will they not go at the same time we go? Will we get to see them? Somebody said, I want to see Isaiah. I want to see Abraham. Yeah, we're going to get to see them. They will be there. They will already because they died. They will already be with the Lord in heaven. But they will not yet be resurrected. We'll see this later when we come to the second coming, which is for the purpose of establishing the kingdom in Israel. That's when Old Testament saints will be resurrected and get their new bodies. But they'll be in heaven just like your loved ones who die now are already in heaven. Old Testament saints are already in heaven too. We'll see them whether or not they have some kind of temporary intermediate body. That probably is the case. But they will not yet have been resurrected. That comes a little bit later. Now the judgment seat of Christ, I want to make very clear, is not to determine whether or not you get to heaven. It is not to determine whether or not you're going to be in heaven. You're already there. The only people at that judgment are believers who are in heaven. In fact, as we will see as we proceed through the series, there is no judgment in the future. That determines where you spend eternity. Not even for unbelievers. Every judgment is a judgment of works. The only way you can determine whether you're going to spend eternity in heaven or in hell is here. Now, in this life, that determination is not made after you die. Once you die, that's settled. And it's settled by what you do with Jesus Christ here and now. So this judgment is not a judgment to determine whether or not you go to heaven. You're already there. It's a judgment of your works. It's a judgment of your life that you've lived since coming to know Christ. By the way, the Bible makes that clear that you will never be condemned after you've come to know Jesus as your Savior. So that judgment has already been taken place. It's already taken place. John chapter 3 verse 18 says it this way, whoever believes in him is not condemned. If you believe in Christ, you will never face condemnation. You'll never face separation from God in eternity. But whoever does not believe, notice it's whether or not you believe in Christ here and now. Trust him as your Savior now. Whoever does not believe, stands condemned already because they've not believed in the name of God's one and only son. Jesus said the same thing in John 5 verse 24, verily or very truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life and will not be judged. And that means will not be judged in regard to eternal life. That's already settled. Will not be judged about that, but has already the idea is has crossed over from death to life. So the decision as to whether or not you'll go to heaven is made here, not at some future judgment. Romans chapter 8 verse 1, Paul says it this way, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Condemnation means judgment which separates you eternally from God in the lake of fire. That will never happen to those who are in Christ. So this judgment does not determine whether or not you'll be in heaven. It is a judgment of your life that you've lived since you've come to know Christ. What happens? What does it look like? Well, the New Testament mentions the judgment seat of Christ in three major passages. And in those passages, the New Testament describes three major characteristics of the judgment seat of Christ. We're going to take a look at those three passages and the three major characteristics of the judgment seat of Christ. The first one, Romans chapter 14. If you would please find that passage in your Bible, Romans 14 verses 10 through 12, where Paul describes the judgment seat of Christ as a judgment of individuals. Notice what Paul says, Romans 14 verse 10. You then why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It's called God's judgment seat here. In 2 Corinthians, Paul will call it the judgment seat of Christ. And we know from other scriptures like John 5 that the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. So whoever stands before God in judgment will stand before Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the judge at all future judgments. Okay, so this is the judgment seat of God or of Christ. Verse 11, it is written, as surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me, every tongue will acknowledge God. The emphasis upon every individual person will give an account to God. That's a quote from Isaiah 45. And then Paul draws the conclusion in verse 12. So then each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. This is God's judgment seat. Now when Paul wrote that to the Romans and later uses that term with the Corinthians, they would all immediately have a picture in their mind, judgment seat. Oh, I know what that looks like. The word Paul used is a word which was used of a particular place, usually in the marketplace or in the public square of a city. The place where most people would congregate and gather. It was called the Bama or the judgment seat. It was a raised platform, a large platform that had a seat on it for the judge to sit in. It could be gotten to by a series of steps where the judge would ascend those steps and be seated. Usually that judgment seat was used for two purposes in the town or in the life of a town. It would be used first of all for the judge to make official pronouncements in legal cases or it would be used of a judge of an athletic contest, awarding, rewarding competitors in that contest. This is a picture of the Bama of the judgment seat in Corinth or what's left of it as archaeologists have unearthed it. This is the large platform. You say, well, how do they know that's not a city wall or something? Well, I don't know who dug it up, but go ask the archaeologists who did it. They have ways of knowing those things, usually from an inscription or some other detail that they were about the city. This was the raised platform, the series of steps up to it. The seat would be somewhere here in the center and the person being judged, whether or not it was a legal case or maybe an athletic contest where the victor was being awarded would stand here in the front and look up at the judge on the judgment seat. Now, that's what every reader of the Roman letter, reader of the Corinthian letter, would have in their minds when they heard judgment seat of God or judgment seat of Christ. They would immediately think of what they were familiar with from their town square. So Paul's talking about this judgment seat that believers will stand before, standing individually before the judge. And so Paul's point in this passage is that we appear individually before God. He says that very strongly in verse 12. Look at verse 12. In three ways, Paul emphasizes the individual appearance before Christ. He says, so then each of us, notice that, each of us, not all of us, each of us indicating the individual. Each of us will give an account of ourselves. Again, I'm not going to give an account for you. You're not going to give an account for me. We're not going to give an account for anybody else. We've given account for ourselves. Each person, for himself, for herself, each one individually. But notice, it says each of us will give an account of ourselves and then notice the last two words to God. To God. Now, I'm not sure all that means. But to me, it indicates this will be a private, individual accounting before Christ. I think sometimes we view the judgment seat of Christ as a huge room with a screen up front. My whole life is going to be played for everybody to see. They're going to be all kinds of, oh, gasp. You know, oh, I didn't know he was like that. Well, I don't know if that's going to happen or not, but the descriptions that I find in the scriptures, whether it is Matthew 6 or this passage or 1 Corinthians 4, 5 where each one has these praise of God, all seem to indicate that it is God to whom we answer. Not everybody else. It is an individual encounter, I believe, with God, with Christ. And we will all stand before Him. He's seated on the judgment seat. We are the one standing in front of Him. I don't know about you, but that's intimidating enough for me. I'm not worried about what everybody else is thinking. When I stand before God, the only person who's going to count anyway is the judge, is Jesus. And what he's thinking, what he says, because I'm going to give an account to him. So we all appear individually before God. Now, the reason for this reminder is found in the context of Romans 14. Back in verse 10, Paul gives us the reason for this reminder that it will be an individual appearance before Christ. He says, you then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. And then he makes it clear, this is an individual thing. Each of us, giving an account of myself to God, not to everybody else. So the reason for this reminder is that we have a tendency to judge everybody else. And that's not what's going to happen at the judgment seat of Christ. Sometime ago, we were in the book of Romans about a year ago, we were pretty close to this passage, Romans 14. I'm not going to rehearse it again for you, but just to remind you, the context is very important here. Paul is warning against judging fellow believers whose personal convictions may differ from yours. Now, please remember, the Bible is very clear about certain basic doctrines. We don't have options on those. The Bible teaches them clearly where to believe them. The Bible is very clear on issues of sin. What is sin? What is not? There are black and white issues in the Bible. The Bible is clear about those, but there are lots of personal choices that we may make in our lives that we form our own personal convictions about. They're kind of gray areas. Paul calls them areas of liberty, areas that we are able to make our own convictions about. And we may differ with other believers on those issues. I'm not going to go back into the series on Romans and go back through all those issues, but you remember, we talk about a number of different things, like what's acceptable or non acceptable on Sunday. Is Sunday the Lord's Day? Is it the Christian Sabbath? You know, those kinds of things. What Bible translation to use? What style of music you prefer? Even issues of style of dress and so forth? Those kinds of things, to some degree, at least, are not clearly defined in the scriptures. And issues that are not clearly defined as right or wrong, we have the freedom to form our own convictions. My convictions may differ from yours on some of those kinds of issues. We are not to judge each other or condemn each other or criticize each other over those kinds of issues of Christian freedom. That's what Paul is talking about. And you know why he says that? Because it's the favorite indoor sport of believers, to judge other believers, to pass judgment, to criticize, to look at something and criticize for what that person is doing, to find fault. It's something that we seem to major on. And what Paul is saying, I'm going to give an account for myself to Christ, not you, you're not going to give an account to me. So keep your hands off of that brother's life. Unless it's clearly an area of sin that the Bible clearly talks about, then we have a right to confront one another and so forth. Yes. But in areas of Christian freedom and liberty, keep your hands off of other brothers and sisters and Christ. Let God judge them, because we're all going to stand before him someday. And he knows every issue, knows the motive of the heart, he knows everything that's taken place. It is very easy for us to misread situations, isn't it? Paul says it this way in regard to his own ministry, which was being criticized by the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 4.5, he said this, therefore judge nothing before the appointed time, wait until the Lord comes. That's what we're talking about here. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time, each, notice the individual emphasis again, each will receive their praise from God. You see, God is the one evaluating. It's not like everybody in the audience is going to be applauding. God is the one who will give us praise at the judgment seat of Christ. But what Paul is saying is that it's too easy to judge ahead of time and misread the situation, misunderstand someone's actions and not know anything about their motives. It's very easy for us to do that. So hands off Paul says in issues of Christian liberty, that brother is going to give an account to Christ, that sister is going to stand before Christ someday. So keep your hands off of them. Don't judge them. We're all going to give an account for ourselves. Back in the mid and late 70s, our family was living in North Carolina and we were pastoring a rural church there. I was, Jeannie was not pastor, but she was big help. But we were living there in North Carolina and I was pastoring and we lived in a rural area, lived in a parsing right beside the church and we had well water. And we got a note from the health department one time, late 70s. I don't remember exactly when, but the note said, we have reason to believe there's contamination in wells in this area, bacteria, whatever. So you need to test your well water and send samples into the health department. And so they sent us a little kit and directions as to how to do it. And they basically said, before you draw your sample, you need to take a light flame and burn around the faucet to burn off any residue of bacteria from there and make sure that whatever shows up is from the water. And so they gave clear directions as to how to do that. And they said, you could either get, I think it was a propane or butane torch or you can get a cigarette lighter. So I drove the 20 miles to our nearest town in Ashboro, North Carolina and I walked into the local K-Mart. And I went to the back, being a preacher, to check on the propane torch. And I think it was at that time, it's like $9.99, something like that. And all the time, I'm looking at that and thinking, I really probably should buy this, I'm thinking about those big lighters up at the front. 99 cents. And I said, you know, I've got to be a good steward of the money gods entrusted me. I'm going to get a big lighter. So I walked up to the front, the checkout counter. I looked around, see if I can see anybody from our church, anybody that I knew, fellow pastor, a real quick grab the one. I think the lady at the cash register look at me like, are you trying to steal something? I'm still looking around and I finally got it paid for and got out and I don't think anybody saw me. But for several weeks, I imagined a prayer request coming up in church. I think we really need pray for pastor John, I can't give any details, but I saw something that really troubles me and I just think, I think we really need pray for pastor John. Or someone maybe writing a letter or coming to me, I think you got an issue, maybe you've been hiding, you need to come clean with. Thank you for that. Never happened. I don't know anybody ever saw me, but it would have been very easy to misread that situation. Someone left after the first service this morning said, hope you enjoy your cigarettes this afternoon. It's very easy for us to see something and misread it. Misunderstand it. Not understand the motives. And what Paul is saying is this is an individual judgment. You leave judging up to God. You leave that up to Christ. He's going to do a very good job of it someday because he knows the motives. He knows the reason for actions or the reason why things were not done. He knows all of that and it will all be brought to light. It will be an individual judgment before Christ. It's a judgment of individuals. Secondly, Paul refers to the judgment seat of Christ in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, where he says not only is it a judgment of individuals, it is a judgment of quality. 1 Corinthians 3, look at verse 10. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder and someone else is building on it. Now what he's talking about there, if he would have read the whole chapter, is he's talking about the church in Corinth. He's the one that planted that church. He's the one that came to Corinth and preached the gospel and people got saved and he started the church. But someone else was building on that foundational work that he had done. His name was Apollos. He refers to him in a few verses earlier. Apollos had come and was having a marvellous ministry there and people were still getting saved and the church was being built up. And so he says, I laid the foundation. I introduced you to Christ and that was the foundation. Someone else is building on that foundation. Look at the end of the verse though. He says, but each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. And that's true not only of a church, it's true of our individual lives too. The foundation is Jesus Christ. Foundation for church, the foundation for any work of God, the foundation for our lives must be Jesus Christ. And that's the only foundation we can build a life on. If you're building on anything else, you're off base. The only foundation that will last is Jesus Christ and you need Christ. As your Savior, if you realize that Jesus came and died for your sins and you've trusted him as your Savior, the foundation is laid. You're building your life now upon the foundation of Christ. But be careful how you build, Paul says. Careful how you build. Look at verse 12. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, different kinds of materials we might use. He says, verse 13, their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire. And the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but yet will be saved even though only is one escaping through the flames. Now the emphasis that Paul is making here is, well there's several infacies. The first one is there are two kinds of judgments. Two kinds of judgments that might potentially take place, but only one of them is going to happen there. And Paul wants to make very clear what kind of judgment is going to take place at the judgment seat of Christ. In verses 13 through 15, he talks about the kind of judgment that will be there. Notice verse 13. He says, their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. Well what day, Paul, the day? Well again, we have the misfortune of jumping into this letter. Three chapters into it. The Corinthians would know exactly what day he's talking about because he's already mentioned it in chapter 1 verses 7 and 8. And that is the day when Jesus Christ will be revealed in verse 7 of chapter 1. You'll be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ chapter 1 verse 8. So they know what he's talking about. He's talking about the day when Christ comes, which issues in judgment. Christ's coming leads to judgment. The rapture leads to the judgment seat of Christ. Second coming will lead to other judgments that we'll see later. The coming of Christ is the day. Okay, if that day notice Paul says their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed. With those three expressions, Paul makes it very clear that our work, how we have built our life is what he's talking about by the work in this context. On the foundation, the kind of life we built will be examined. It will be laid bare. Three ways. He says it will be revealed. It will be manifest. It will be laid bare. God will test it and he will test it with fire. In the scriptures, fire is often the symbol of God's judgment because it burns away everything that's temporary and leaves only that which is left, which is eternal. We'll see that's the case here. Jesus is seen in the book of Revelation is the judge who comes in fire with eyes of fire. His searching gaze, examining everything about our lives, even the motives and intents of our heart and judging those actions, those motives, those thoughts, those words. So the judgment will take place, but notice, notice what he says at the end of verse 13. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. Again, there are two ways to judge something. Two kinds of judgment. You can judge quality or quantity. And it's so important that we understand what's going to happen if the judgment is seed of Christ. It is quality the way we have built our lives that will be judged, not quantity. We are so used to quantitative judgments. We are so used to making assessments by numbers. That's the way it works in business. That's the way it works in athletics. At least most of the time, whoever scores the most points wins if it's off the least. But it's always measured by numbers. It's quantitative. And that's the way we're used to measuring stuff. We measure results by size, by numbers, by additions, by that kind of measurable growth. That's not the way God measures. It's not that that may necessarily be wrong. A measurable quantitative results may indicate good things happening, but that can be very deceptive. And only God knows what's true behind the numbers. God does not measure churches by size or by buildings or by amount of budgets. God doesn't measure that way. God measures by quality. God doesn't measure a life by quantitative numbers. We have a tendency to think you're more spiritual Christian if you read three chapters a day rather than one chapter a day of your Bible. You're more spiritual Christian if you pray 30 minutes rather than 15 minutes. We just measure everything by numbers. God doesn't measure that way. You can read three chapters and it go in one ear and out the other. It not mean a thing to you. You're just fulfilling a routine and a duty. And you can read one verse and let it speak to your heart and change your life. And that's quality. That's what God measures. We have a tendency to think, oh, that person that wins three people a week to the Lord. Man, they're really going to be rewarded the judgment seat. Not the person that won three people in a year. Is that the way God measures? It's wonderful to win people to Christ. We ought to win as many as we can. But not everybody has the same opportunity. Let me give you an illustration of this, a biblical illustration. You'll see it on the screen. Luke 21. Here's how Jesus indicated God judges. This is the Tuesday before Jesus would die on Friday. Jesus is in the temple. And as Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. The two together would be the equivalent of about a half a cent in our currency. Two King James calls them mites. Each one of them worth about a quarter of a cent. Half a cent. Jesus interrupts everything to make this assessment, this evaluation, this judgment. Notice what he says. Truly, I tell you, he said, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. Why, Jesus, would you say that? Obviously, she didn't put in more. A wait a second. Here's the way I judge. Jesus says, all these people gave their gifts out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. Do you see what Jesus is saying there? Jesus is saying, I don't measure just by the amount. I know your life circumstances. I know your limitations, he says. I know limitations of health, limitations of personal circumstances. I know limitations, maybe of age. I know limitations of opportunity. I know your different personalities. I know even your different spiritual gifts that not everybody is going to be as effective in this area as someone else is. And so I weigh all of that, Jesus says, I'm looking at quality. I'm not just measuring numbers. I'm looking more deeply, Jesus says. I'm looking at quality, not quantity. I read a story this week about Dr. Katrina Furlick. Who was the first woman admitted into the neurosurgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She wrote a book recently entitled Another Day in the Frontal Lobe, which provides a glimpse into the training of neurosurgeons. In one chapter, she shares a story from her last year of residency. It's a time when she was already becoming kind of jaded in looking at the tragedies of neurological devastation in people's lives. And here's what she says in that book. I'm just going to read it. She said, I walked into yet another examining room, a brand new consult from out of town, 18 years old, cerebral palsy, spasticity. Okay, okay, I've seen this before. I just need to get a good history before my attending physician walks in. Efficiency is key. I looked at the patient for a second, very skinny, special wheelchair, arms contracted, head support in place, mouth hung open. It was clear. I wasn't going to get the story from him. So I turned to the parents, my back toward the patient, and started to take down the history. When my mentor walked in, the physician who was overseeing her, when my mentor walked in, I cringed. He sat down on the examining table, the only seat left in the cramped room. After introducing himself, he surveyed the compact scene, the patient, the parents, and then focused his gaze back on the patient. After what seemed like several almost uncomfortably quiet seconds, he looked the patient in the eye and asked, so when did you graduate from high school? The young man's face lit up like I had no idea it could. My mentor had noticed something I had missed. The patient was wearing a large high school ring, so large that it looked a little silly on his bony finger. His body, far more than his mind, had borne the brunt of his cerebral palsy. He was a proud, beaming high school graduate who used a special computer to help him communicate. For the remainder of the visit, I sat in the corner, dunts like, humbled by the enormity of this ring now staring me in the face. Isn't it easy to miss what's really important? Jesus doesn't. At the judgment seat, Jesus will know everything that's happened in your life, the reason for who you are. He will know everything about your makeup, how you're wired, your personality, your spiritual gifts. He will know everything that you've done, not done why you've done or not done it. He will be able to read, he will know every motive of your heart, even things that were totally misunderstood by others. He'll know all of that. And his judgment will be accurate because it will judge the right details. There are two kinds of judgment, and I want to assure you the kind of judgment Jesus does is a judgment of quality. He sees the high school ring on the finger. He doesn't miss a thing. But not only are there two kinds of judgment, you say, well, I still have a missing piece of the puzzle here, John, I realize he's going to judge quality, but I'm still not sure really what that's going to look like for me. What does that mean for me? Okay, Paul helps us out here because not only are there two kinds of judgment, there are two kinds of material that we may use to build our lives with. And Paul makes them clear in verse 12. Verse 12, if anyone builds on this foundation, okay, the foundation's late. It's Jesus Christ. You know Christ is your savior. You're a believer. You've got that in place. Okay, now there are two kinds of materials you can use to build your life on that foundation. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, stop right there. That's one kind of building material. Gold, silver, precious stones. Obviously, that means materials that are not destroyed by fire. They will only be purified when fire judges them because they last. They will not be burned up. They last. And so Paul uses those elements, those items to indicate and illustrate things that we build our lives on or with that last, that endure, that are eternal, eternal. Eternal stuff is what he's talking about here. It is possible for us to build our lives with eternal building materials, things that will never end, things that will last forever. Now, think about it for a moment. A biblical perspective. What is it that lasts forever? Your soul will last forever. Your character, what you build into your life will last forever. The souls of other people will last forever. The Word of God last forever. That's it. That's it. That's all that lasts forever. Souls of people, the Word of God. That's eternal building material. So we need to ask ourselves some really hard questions. What am I doing to get into the Word of God so that I understand how to build my character? This is what God uses to do that. So what am I doing to build into my life? Biblical truth, reviewing my mindset, my worldview, with a biblical worldview, biblical mindset, with Bible truth so that I understand what God wants me to believe, what God wants me to see, how He wants me to view this world, how He wants me to build my life. What am I doing with that? What am I doing to build my own soul and character to be more like Christ? And then am I reaching out to see any other souls come to know Christ so that they can spend eternity in heaven? Am I contributing in any way toward the building up of another believer in their character so that they are more Christ-like? Those are the things that last forever. And then there's a second kind of building material. Would hay straw? Contrast is obvious, isn't it? Fire burns those things up. They're only temporary. And we have to ask ourselves the question, how much of my life is focused on things only of earthly value, things that will not last beyond this earth? Now I know this would be very easy to misunderstand and I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying here. I'm not saying that if you take the time to build a beautiful home, have a nice car, have a well-paying job, that you're focusing on the wrong things. I'm not saying that because remember, Paul says, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it to the glory of God. You can build a beautiful new home and do that to the glory of God. Here's the question. Here's the question. Are you building a house or are you building a home? Is all you're focused on a beautiful and expensive house? What are you doing with that house? What are you doing with the people inside that house? God doesn't care whether your house is a two million dollar house or a twenty thousand dollar house. That makes no difference to him. What he cares about is are you building into that home, into the lives of people in that home, godly character because that's going to last forever and it doesn't matter whether it's in a nice new expensive home or a shack. That's of no importance to God whatsoever. If he blesses you with a nice beautiful home and you use it to the glory of God, wonderful. Same thing is true of your job. God doesn't care whether your job pays you a million dollars or ten thousand dollars. That's not the issue to him. The issue is are you glorifying God with your work? Are you doing your work in such a way like Colossians 3? You realize you're serving the Lord Christ and so when you go into work every day, are you seeking to honor him and please him and to leave the kind of testimony that others can be influenced to ask questions about why you're different and you have an opportunity to share with him about Christ or your work itself if nobody ever sees it is presented to God as an offering that glorifies him. It's done to your very best. Then you're building with eternal stuff. You see, this is not just oh in order to build with eternal stuff, I got to stop doing secular work and become a missionary, right? No, that's not the issue. The issue is are you glorifying God with what you're doing? Are you building for eternity? Are you living with eternal stuff in mind? Are you building the kind of life that feeds sinful desires or that sets your affections on things above and seeks for God's glory? What kind of life are you building? That's the issue because that's what you're going to give an account to Jesus for someday. Forget about things that will happen here. Some day you're going to stand before Jesus and he's going to examine everything about your life, going to examine your home, he's going to examine your personal character, he's going to examine your work, he's going to examine it for quality. Did you build with eternal building materials or were you only focused on the temporary? That is the question. There are two kinds of judgments, there are two kinds of material, there are two kinds of results. Verse 14, the first kind of result is reward, if what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. In other words, if you've used the gold silver, costly stone, it makes it through the fire of God's judgment, it's eternal focus, that's going to give you a reward. You're going to be rewarded for that, but the second result, if it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but yet will be saved even though only is one escaping through the flames. The second result is to suffer loss, loss of what? Doesn't say, does it? Well, yeah, in the context it does, in the flow of thought it does. It's not talking about the loss of salvation. Remember that's already settled. You're already in heaven. That's already settled. What is the loss? Well, in keeping with this flow of thought in verse 14, what do you receive? You receive reward. So when you suffer loss, what do you suffer loss of reward? And yet he says, you will be saved. You'll be in heaven. It's not a matter of getting kicked out of heaven. You'll be in heaven. But he says it is though only as one escaping through the flames. I want to get back to that in just a moment very quickly, but you've heard the expression of maybe someone who's tragically their house burned and they escaped with only the clothes on their back. That's the idea here. Everything you've worked for has been burned up. You're still there, but like one who has just escaped the flames of judgment. Now, by the way, I don't think the judgment seat of Christ is going to be quite the picnic that we sometimes picture it. Hey, hang on to that thought. I want to come back to it in just a moment. There's a judgment of quality. Quickly, the third occasion that Paul mentions the judgment seat of Christ is a judgment of works. Second Corinthians 5. It is a judgment of works. Let's just look at this verse. Verse 10. Second Corinthians 5, verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. You know what that means? It means that all Christians will be evaluated. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. All Christians will be evaluated. And then Paul goes on to say, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body. You know what that means? It means our works will be evaluated. The things done in the body will be evaluated. How we live our lives, our actions, our words, our thoughts, our motives, all of those things that God can examine and will examine. Our works will be evaluated. And then the third thing Paul says is a bit troubling to some. Notice he says that we may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. What that means is that all of our works will be evaluated. Now some have said, well, the word bad just means worthless. It's just things that really weren't good motives and they didn't really count. So we'll just set them aside. Well, the word is the great word for worthless, but it's used synonymously in the New Testament with the word for evil interchangeably. He's talking about evil that we've done. And he's not saying, it's just going to be set aside. He's saying each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. It's receiving something for that which is good, reward, but also receiving something for that which is bad. That's the clear meaning of the text. Now that's where it gets troubling for some people. And I want to be sure I keep the proper biblical balance here. I do not believe that Paul is saying there will be some kind of punishment for our sins in heaven at the judgment seat of Christ. That would negate the sufficiency of Christ's payment for our sins. Remember we've already seen, that's done. That's paid for. All of our sins paid for through the death of Christ. All sins of all believers have been taken care of in full. So there's not some kind of punishment. There's no purgatory being indicated here where, okay, because of the bad things I did, I'm going to suffer for like five years or ten years and then I'll get to go to heaven. That's not what Paul's talking about. But to keep the proper balance and take this seriously, there are consequences in heaven for the bad things we've done that are evaluated to the judgment seat of Christ. And I think the scriptures make clear two consequences. Number one, a sense of remorse. There will be remorse. As we watch the things we have done that were focused on temporary things burned up. And we realize how much of our lives we wasted on temporary things. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 315 that if what we've done is burned up and we're watching it be burned up, the evaluation that Christ has made, the builder will suffer loss. Yes, it is loss of reward, but I believe there's going to be real remorse about that. I don't think it's the kind of thing. You know, when you go to a restaurant now, you get those little surveys you're supposed to go on the website and fill out a survey. And if you fill it out, you get in a drawing for a thousand dollars. And you fill it out and nothing ever happens. And you know what you're thinking? That's worth a shot. I knew I wouldn't get it anyway. Or you're supposed to get, you know, and maybe it went an iPad for that day and you never get it. I knew it wouldn't happen anyway. I think some people think that about the judgment seat. I didn't really expect any awards anyway. That's okay. I don't care. No, it's not going to be that way. There will be remorse at we watch how much we wasted our lives on temporary stuff. We will suffer loss of reward. Second thing I think that will be a consequence is shame. Shame as we realize how misdirected the focus of our lives were. John talks about this in first John 2.28. He says, and now dear children, continue in him. In other words, stay faithful. Don't get off course. Stay faithful to Christ. Why? So that when he appears, okay, remember when he comes, that issue's in judgment. When he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. The implication is that it is possible when Jesus comes for us to be ashamed. A shame. And I think when we watch stuff that we've done that was all focused on simple pleasure, just the pleasures of simple nature, when we watch stuff that's burned up because it was just, we were focusing on temporary stuff. When we see all that burned up, I think there's going to be an element of shame for some of us at the judgment seat of Christ. That's why I said, I think that may well be my most embarrassing moment when I stand before Jesus. And I realize that so much of what I did was for the wrong reasons, for the wrong motives. It was built around temporary stuff, and it was not pleasing to God. And I think there will be a sense of shame. Is that what God means when he says in Revelation 21 that when the New Heaven and New Earth is created, this is much later on, he will wipe away all tears. I'm not sure. I don't know for sure, but I suspicion there will be some real shame and remorse at the judgment seat of Christ. And that will be wiped away at some point, but we may well be ashamed there. As soon as the rapture happens, as soon as it takes place, we stand before Jesus at the judgment seat of Christ. Again, I don't know time wise how all that works out, but I know it will happen. We'll stand there as individuals. Our works will be tested as to the quality, the kind of material we built our lives out of, and we will be judged for the eternal value that we focused on in our lives. What should that do for us? What should that do for you and me right now? Well, I know what it did for Paul, back in verse 9, so we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. Why? Because we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Because I know that's going to happen, I want to make sure that my life pleases him, that I'm living in a way that honors and glorifies him. Late in the 1800s, the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, a local one morning to read his own obituary in his local newspaper. This is what he read. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised away from more people to be killed in a year or in a war than ever before, and he died a very rich man. Actually, it was Alfred Nobel's older brother that had died, and the newspaper reporter got the information wrong for the obituary. But it shook Alfred Nobel. He was reading what would be said of him after he died. And he said, I don't want to be known for someone who made it possible to kill more people than a war than ever before, and who got rich in the process. I don't want to be known for that. And so he established an award for writers and scientists who do good for the world. And we know it today is the Nobel Prize. Someday, our epitaph is going to be read. Our lives are going to be evaluated. What we did with our lives, as believers, will stand before the searching gaze of Jesus Christ. You have the opportunity right now to change the way that's going to read. Let's pray. Father, on that day, may we be found pleasing to you. Lord, help us to live in the light of the fact that we will stand before you someday. Oh, God, how easy it is to lose sight of that, to start building our lives with wood, hay, and straw. Help us, Father, to build with eternal building materials, to build a life that pleases and honors you, to invest our lives and things that will last forever, to use what you've given us here that's going to be temporary to glorify your name and thus turn it into eternal treasure. Help us Father, to live that way. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.